Rod journal scratch

[John Milner]

I am about to build a 440 for a street car. A rod journal on the crankshaft has a scratch in it. I don't know the history on the crankshaft so I am not sure how it got there. It almost looks like someone nicked the journal with a rod bolt either building or disassembling the engine. I am tempted to have the crankshaft polished and run it if the journal measures good otherwise. Would this scratch be a concern to anyone or should I go ahead and have it turned instead of polishing? Thanks

 

[pnora]

You can file it down and polish it yourself. However not knowing the history it might be better to have it checked out. Checking for cracks, being true and balance. You might find it had to be cut down. Did you measure the rod and main journals? Maybe its already been cut. You might find getting a crank kit might be cheaper than using this crank.

 

[PurpleBeeper]

Turn that crank

 

[John Milner]

Thanks for the replies. Right now the rods are .010 under and the mains are .020 under.

 

[R413]

What are you doing with this engine? Type of driving, RPM?
Make sure no high spots on either side, run it. Just holds more oil there

 

[John Milner]

It is going in a 68 Charger 4 speed street car. Very basic build. L2266 TRW Pistons with rebuilt '67 915 HP heads with stock valves sizes/ports, maybe 9.25:1 compression, .484 Mopar purple camshaft, HP exhaust manifolds. Would be surprised if it will be over 375-400 horsepower at the crank. I doubt it will ever see over 5,500 rpm. I won't be drag racing the car. The most I will ever do is wind it up and go through the gears. Thanks

 

[zyzzyx]

The only cranks that are Nitrided are Hemi cranks. All the rest are soft. Not an issue.
The most important thing is the journals being round, on size, and no high spots.
I would grind all of the journals and have the oil holes chamfered.

 

[dvw]

Polish it and measure it. If It's round and correctly sized it shouldn't be an issue in this type of build. I have my doubts if it passes these requirements. You won't know until it's cleaned up and checked.
Doug